Sondra Perl's Composing Guidelines

1. While using the Perl guidelines, I did make progress in finding a topic even when all I had written down was "nothing" like the guidelines suggested. When it asked "what distractions may prevent you from writing", things really took off. I wrote about how random cold gusts of wind would sneak in from the window or the sound of people's voices walking by would make me totally lose my train of thought. Refocusing on writing/my topic is how the guidelines really helped me out. When checking my "felt sense", I found that proofreading was essential. I could look over what I had written, usually being general ideas or facts about the topic, and then branch out from there until I had quite a body of work.

2. Choosing the idea for me was the hardest part of the process. I wanted to focus on something that was important to me but also something that could be subject to criticism or debated for the sake of presenting it in a discussion. Relaxing and finding my "center" probably never happened. If I get too comfortable I begin to drift off or focus on something else. I belief that challenging one's topic with questions actually does generate more ideas and more abundant flow of writing.

3. I really learned a lot about the way I write. Starting off was the hardest part. Once I narrowed down a topic and went about free-writing whatever came to my mind about the topic, the words and writing came easier. I don't believe that writing down distractions really helped very much. It made me focus on what was going on around me not what I need to do on paper. Overall, I think this is a great process and can help me in the future generate a flow of writing to succeed when writing papers.